philosophical comment 9was Re: Tesla's World Electrical System (was Field Mill Voltmeter

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

Original poster: "Jim Lux by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <jimlux-at-earthlink-dot-net>



Tesla list wrote:
> 
> >
> > > Until all the experimental proof can be verified by indepentent
> > > sources, it will remain, as it has, for over 100 years, a subject
> > > for constant debate, argument, and disbelief.
> 
> well said and since i have nothing to prove and therefore nothing to
> loose, i agree.
> it is sad that some of the discoveries that could be found by some list
> members will never be because there is a transition going on towards
> "your coil should be built this way, with these items, and powered like
> this" discoveries only happen when new things are tried, different then
> the norm/ MUD CAPACITORS? i read much "can't work" posts until it was
> shown that a scientific mind could, if they wanted, make a ceramic cap
> at home. mmc's and rotary gaps are NOT the only way to go, there a man
> was that made a capacitor out of plastic "party plates", this was a
> better idea then the party cups and without giving it the forethought it
> deserved, he was shot down.
> 

I don't know that the posts were about the infeasibility of mud caps, but
more a discussion that kind of got beat into the ground about whether
barium compounds were toxic.  

I think that many of us tend to be a bit didactic in our recommendations.
Perhaps it is a "hey, I tried 7000 different things and I finally got it to
work, so I want to spare you the pain of getting that first coil to work."  

I'd say that the vast majority of first time inquirers are looking for the
easiest/cheapest way to get some sparks.  After they build that first coil,
and get those sparks, they'll be hooked (or not), and then the
experimenting or tinkering bug will bite.  We will respond with a plethora
of responses ranging over a fairly wide spectrum of time/cost/ease, and it
can be pretty intimidating to a reader to try and sort it out.  

It's all well and good to say "check the archives" or "visit the ring", but
then it's almost worse.. you'd have to be pretty motivated to visit ALL the
sites or read ALL the posts.

Overall, the list does a very GOOD job on this, compared to just about any
other activity.  The contributors are more than willing to offer answers
and explain things. Someone who knew nothing about a TC would rapidly find
all they wanted to know (and probably more). Personally, I'd rather have a
bit too much information than not enough, but then, I read fast, and I am
very good with the search engines.

There have been complaints about the sheer volume of posts (which is huge,
compared to any other list I am on), but that is because we are a living
breathing community, awake 24 hours a day, and we all have definite
opinions which we have no hesitation in posting.  This is good! Pressing
the delete key doesn't take too long. (Apologies to those of you with slow
modem connections, I feel your pain... I was on travel and had to dial in
to get email with a 4800 bps link...those dozens of messages add up..).
However, I'd rather have the dozens of posts than none.