I am so ready for Fall Break!

Committee members seeing this can expect an email to follow immediately with relevant updates.

This week was a continuation of troubleshooting the wifi/radio issues on my PiShock and the minishockers. Yes, that’s right, shockers, plural. I got an additional one. Having two shockers enables a few things: 1) it makes the embodied feedback of the PnP system much more stable, but 2) it also highlights some of the layered capacities of the PiShock system. The PiShock isn’t a single, discrete object: “a shocker”. Rather, it already is a constellation of devices and software that coordinate/mutually coconstruct one another to produce the erotic sensation of pleasure-pain through decentralized control.

Anyway, the addition of this second shocker appears to be where the breakage occurred; with some light resetting and reflashing of the PiShock hub itself, I was able to get network connectivity back and now have two operational shockers connected to my PiShock hub. With this latest bug fixed and my support tickets closed on the PiShock Discord, I have continued the building process as I start assembling the innards of the piece. Inside, the minishockers are attached directly to the custom-machined support brace with some gaffer’s tape. The brace is mounted inside a vertical PVC pipe with various connectors and pass-throughs for wiring. Inside the pipe is a simple string of LEDs (also code-controlled) and a lining made of condoms. The exterior of the piece (still under construction) will be made to evoke the aesthetics of a glory hole, rough plywood spray-painted black with garish lettering inviting the user-viewer to stick in a hand and press start.

This continued material development has run concurrently with a flurry of new writing and the assembly of extant notes. The goal for a Chapter 1 draft is the end of October.