Entertainment Technology & Design News
To amuse, educate, and instill excellence in the live event production industry.
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In This Issue
Education
Open Aperture
ETCP News
Sustainability & Occupational Safety
Hahaha
Qurious Quotes
Isaac Asimov
"Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is."

Send us your best quotes.
Upcoming Classes
Modern Electrics for the Advanced Tech at LDI Las Vegas
Entertainment Electricity, Power Distribution, and Controls
Las Vegas

September 24, 25, 26, 2012

Entertainment Electrics Hands-on Workshop with Richard Cadena - New Orleans
August 3, 2012

The Principles of Arena Rigging
Sept. 27-29, 2012 

Entertainment Electricity, Power Distribution, and Controls
Los Angeles 
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Technology
3Gbps+ WiFi on the Horizon
Wilocity-Athero 60GHz WiFi
60GHz WiFi coming soon?
Four different companies are working on building chips that can transmit over three gigabits-per-second wirelessly using IEEE 802.11ad WiFi. That's 20 times faster than the fastest WiFi standard, 802.11n (up to 150 Mbps) and three times faster than the current 802.11ac draft standard.

To read more, click here.
Education
Lies Your Teacher Told You
boy at chalkboard
Wrap your head around this...
When you were in grade school, your teacher told you that you couldn't divide by zero, right? Your teacher lied to you. In his or her defense, it would have been a bit challenging for you as a third grader to wrap your head around the concept of dividing by zero. But you're all grown up now, so there's no reason you can't figure this out. And, it's actually very simple. 

Divide the following numbers and watch what happens:
 
1/1 = 1 ÷ 1 = 1 
1/0.1 = 1 ÷ 0.1 = 10 
1/0.01 = 1 ÷ 0.01 = 100 
1/0.001 = 1 ÷ 0.001 = 1000 1/0.0001 = 1 ÷ 0.0001 = 10,000 

Do you see where this is going? We could go on, but I want to go to dinner eventually. So let's cut this short and draw a conclusion. If we continued in this pattern of dividing by a smaller and smaller number, what happens to the answer? Right! It gets bigger and bigger. Eventually the small number will be so small that it will be as close to 0 as we can possibly get, and the answer will be as close to infinity as we can possibly get. In reality, we could continue forever and eventually the divisor will be 0 and the answer will be ∞ (infinity).

 
The Road Down Under

CX Roadshow
APT is hitting the road dow n under in 20 13. Richard Cadena will be joining the CX Road show, offering electrics and control systems classes from Perth to Brisbane next February, 2013. The classes will be offered in the following locations:

CX ROADSHOW 2013 ITINERARY
  • PERTH Thursday 14th February Perth Hyatt
  • ADELAIDE Monday 18th February Adelaide Convention Centre
  • MELBOURNE Wednesday 20th February Melbourne Convention Centre
  • CANBERRA Friday 22nd February National Convention Centre
  • SYDNEY Monday 25th February The Concourse
  • BRISBANE Wednesday 27th February Brisbane Convention Centre
For more information, visit www.APTXL.com or email us.

July 30, 2012
Open Aperture                                                         
Power Distro, Circa 1971
Rolling Stones 1971
photo courtesy of The Chipmonck Archives, svp
"Once upon a time, many moons ago, this was distribution, such as '71 UK (Rolling) Stones," said Chipmonck, lighting designer, famed announcer from the original Woodstock, and rock touring pioneer.

"You brought four pieces of 5'0", 1500mm tails with you, of 4/0 welding hair strand, good for 400 amps at 120V, 800 amps at 240 V, you tied them into the company switch, directly to the bus or below the fuse, and out to the bottom hole(s) in your distribution. A single hole was safer.

"From that run , all with Tweeko welding connectors, to a Square D rocker arm disconnect, no fuses, just copper bar, of ¼" , with female Tweekos mounted with 1¼" Romex/Greenfield connectors, as output.

"In a major auto transformer board collection of numerous 6 X 2500W, and 10 X 5 Ks, that rocker arm was your blackout switch, as it could be operated by your foot, such as early Newport Folk and Jazz and Monterey '67.

"In the attached picture, we graduated to a manual 2-scene preset, and left the Ward Leonard and Superior Electric auto transformers  behind, finding European electronics of less bulk.

"From the Square D disconnect we went with short tails of 4/0 to 2'0"/600mm 4" X 4" long duct with six female Tweekos, again mounted with Romex/Greenfield connectors, with
major Burndy connections within. Each appliance, phase 1, 2, or 3, was plugged into the sub-distro with the neutral, but never an earth!

"If the monitor, FOH mix, or instrument amplification, were not on only one phase, there was the the possibility of 480V between the strings, and your lips. Undesirable. (To say the least!) That was UK '71.. and back to '58 at the Village Gate in NYC, where we lived on Subway power for eight years. Then they sussed us out."

Thanks to Chipmonck for providing the picture and the story.

ETCP News
More Options for Recertification 
electrics workshop The ETCP Council has decided that cross-training will count towards renewal credits. What does this mean to you?  If you are a rigger, you can now take a course that deals with entertainment electricity and if you are an electrician, you can take courses that deal with rigging. The Council also decided that CPR and basic first aid training will count towards renewal credits. ETCP Certified Riggers and Electricians have to re-certify every five years.

 

To learn more about the Entertainment Technician Certification Program, click here.

 

IATSE Local 1 Certifies 36 Riggers

 

NEW YORK - The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) has awarded 36 International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E.) Local One members with its Rigger - Theatre Certification. 

 

"Local One is very excited and proud of our success in the great number of our members who have recently been certified as ETCP Technicians," said Local One I.A.T.S.E. President James J. Claffey, Jr.  "We believe that this achievement demonstrates our commitment to educating and training our members to provide the best service possible to our many employers, as well as enforcing, enhancing and protecting the traditional jurisdiction of Local One."

 

President Claffey added, "Congratulations and thanks are also in order to the Trustees of Local One's Training, Education and Technology Fund, Brother Paul Dean, Jr., and Education Committee Chairman for supporting, funding and coordinating all of our newly established initiatives and objectives."

"We are extremely proud to add some of Broadway's finest theatre riggers to the list of ETCP Certified Technicians," said Paul Dean, Jr. who helped organize a four-day training course prior to the exam administration. "Our members who are ETCP Certified also include technicians from Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Opera House and various television studios who work throughout Local One's jurisdiction which includes Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Westchester and Putnam Counties."  

 

To read the entire article, click here.

Sustainability & Occupational Safety
Ground-Supported Structures Standard News

"The second public review of the revised ANSI standard for temporary outdoor roofs is now available. Comments about the proposed changes to the standard, ANSI BSR E1.21-201X Entertainment Technology - Temporary Ground-Supported Structures Used to Cover the Stage Areas and Support Equipment in the Production of Outdoor Entertainment Events, can be submitted until Sept. 24th.

 

For more information, click here. 

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The Lighting Director

Lighting Director
"I know it's hard for you to concentrate during sound check, but right I need for you to focus." 
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Richard Cadena
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