ZINGERS,1968 - 1972

Zingers respond to sound by lighting the bulb in proportion to loudness. At the time it was a novelty. I built a bunch of variations mostly because I could never get them to work consistently. There was no plan for the circuitry, it was just tinkered together and tweaked into working. They all responded differently to changes of temperature, giving each version a distinct 'personality' caused by my imprecise way of making them. We got used to having them around, and developed a habit of whistling for light.

I was explaining my imprecision to a person who bought a zinger, and she stopped me with, "...hell, it's got soul is what you're saying." I thought that was pretty good, so I told a scientist friend the story. He interrupted it with,"...hell it's poorly designed and doesn't work worth a damn." He first called them 'zingers'.