Re: Riding t-loads, and other dangerous stuff.

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

Original poster: "Alan Yang by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <megavolt121-at-mediaone-dot-net>

Jon, all
    I agree with what your father did to help make it safe for you to do the
dangerous thing, but with a Tesla Coil it is way different. The worst that
can happen with drinking is that you all get drunk and beat each other
up.(that is considering that no one is driving, no cops, etc.) With a t/c it
all changes. Once you tell someone all of the safety hazards and what's
required, that will only encourage people to try a stunt because they think
that they know all that can go wrong. Educating people on the dangers will
not help, it will only do more damage by letting other's think they can
perform the stunt.
    As I've said in the way past, I've been fortunate enough to see kVA
perform this sparks of fingertips stunt. Before I saw it i thought "oh just
don't ground yourself and be careful not to fall off the platform". This got
me thinking that i could do the trick too. That is until i saw the stunt
performed and realized that there were MANY more precautions taken to ensure
the safety of the stunt man. When i got around to asking why and how it
worked, the response started along the lines of "Well we aren't 100% sure,
but we believe its due to the ......" That just got me freaked when the pros
told me they weren't 100% sure. If you really want sparks off your fingers,
do the Dr. Megavolt way and make a full body faraday suit. Just research
more into faraday cages since we know how that works and how they protect
you.

Safely Coiling and watching demos
-Alan



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 10:41 AM
Subject: Riding t-loads, and other dangerous stuff.


> Original poster: "jpeakall by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>"
<jpeakall-at-mcn-dot-org>
>
> Howdy All,
>
> This won't be the most popular viewpoint. However...
>
> When I was young, I had a fascination with explosives. In the beginning of
> my HE (high explosives) career, my father ( PhD in Biology and chemistry,
> with an ba in physics) found me trying to make dynamite. Naturally he was
> horrified, as dynamite production is very unstable and dangerous. However,
> instead of tanning my hide and taking away all of my stuff, he decided
that
> A: I would continue to experiment behind his back and B: that he would
> rather I didn't blow myself up, so he decided to help and guide instead of
> forbid. With his help, I blew up many things in my childhood, and still
have
> all my fingers.
>
> Same thing about drinking when I was a teenager. My dad didn't want me
> hanging out in the park with my friends drinking. He *knew* he couldn't
stop
> be experimenting with alcohol. He thought it was much safer for us to
drink
> at home. No cops, no cars, and him and Mom upstairs to make sure things
> didn't get out of hand. All the kids thought my Dad was the coolest, but
he
> was doing his best to protect his kids, not being cool.
>
> The point is, people do what they do. By withholding knowledge, we force
> them to do it stupidly, without the benefit of experience. Let's face it
the
> trick of "riding the topload" is out there. And if people can't find
> information on it, they may well try it in ignorance. So who's to say if
> withholding such information is going to save lives or discourage people
> from trying it? I doubt it will. I *knew* that making dynamite was
> dangerous. It's just lucky my Dad got to me before I got to the tricky
part.
>
> Trying to protect people by keeping them in ignorance just doesn't work.
> Educating and informing people occasionally does. Censorship and
withholding
> of knowledge helps no-one. I understand peoples concern for youths and the
> hobby, but shrouding dangerous acts in a cloak of secrets will only make
> some more curious than ever. And those who were sensible enough will have
> heeded the warnings, and it will be only the reckless left.... and now
they
> have no information to even have a *hope* of doing it and living.
>
> Sorry if this seems OT, but I don't think it is.
>
> *off soapbox*
>
> Flame retardant systems activated.
>
> Jonathan Peakall
>
> PS Understand, I have no urge to touch a secondaries out put. Anybody who
> does is a few bricks shy a full load, IMHO.
>
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