Re: Electric Lobster

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Jamie Mereness by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <mereness-at-dti-dot-net>

It was an evening of fine food and sundry spectacle; never purported to be
"research."  I consider most all opportunities to acquaint people with
Tesla to have
value.  Some people at events such as this are fascinated and curious for more
information, some are surprisingly Tesla-savvy, and many folks don't give a
hoot
about anything scientific; they just enjoy the show.  And society is like
that in
general; most folks could care less what happens when they turn the
ignition key of
their car, they just want to get to the store.  I was disappointed that the
reporter
mis-described the nature of the discharges, but realize that most
journalists are
woefully ignorant about the things they report about.

I like to wheel out my larger SRSG coil after midnight on weekends when the
neighborhood is teaming with hipster youth, invite in random groups, and
give them a
5 minute science lecture punctuated by dazzling bolts of lightning.  But
this was
Gecko's dining event, and I'm just happy that 40 people left that evening newly
aware of who Tesla was, what a Tesla coil looks like, and what it does.
Perhaps
there are venues that are inappropriate for coiling, but a Sunday dinner
doesn't
seem like one of them. :)

I doubt that many spectators were ruminating about dV/dT when they watched Greg
Leyh's coil light a chicken on fire at Burning Man, or when Austin Richards
performs
in his Faraday suit, or when Bill Wysock and Jeff Parisse set up a Tesla terror
tunnel at a haunted house, but I also doubt these entertaining events
diminish the
public's perspective on coiling.  I would argue that spectacle has always
been a
part of coiling, ever since Tesla took his famous double exposure.  I know
my own
interest in high voltage was sparked by the amazing devices Ken Strickfadden
designed for old horror movies.  Even the famous Griffith Park Observatory coil
started out in a carnival!

>       Well, it's one way to elevate Tesla coil research to the level of a
> carnival side show. It's obvious that no one there, including the reporter,
> knew what they were looking at, or cared. The reference to a
> "Frankenstein-like static electricity-generating machine called a Tesla
> coil," was another nationally broadcast round of mis-information about TCs.
> This bizarre mixture of "Art," "Religion," and "Technology" (there was NO
> SCIENCE present) IMO damages the public's impression of everyone in the field
> as much as the perpetual motion/UFO/ lunatic fringe does. Hopefully you were
> well-paid.
> Matt D.