Re: 1994 article

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Terry Fritz <vardin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

At 06:21 PM 8/6/2005, you wrote:

> On another note, hopefully Terry will let it go as it is just my 
> opinion, but has anyone wondered why there is quite so much 
> pseudoscience associated with Tesla, and where all of this rubbish 
> comes from and why?

Along with the other folks ideas on this, I think a lot of it has to 
do with "frustration" at not being able to really understand a lot of 
Tesla's work for such a long time....

30 years ago, surprisingly little was known about Tesla coils and how 
they worked.  The information that was available was full of wild BS 
and there was really not "another" explanation available.  Even 
though Tesla coils have been around for say 110 years, the age of 
much of the detailed theory can be counted on one hand and almost all 
of it on two...  I cannot recall how many hundreds of times I have 
heard that Tesla coils cannot be explained by electrical 
engineers...  We all remember the often sited quote "Electrical 
Engineering handbooks state that the design of Tesla coils is 
empirical"... and that was from one of the very best books of the 
era...  Heeeey, were are all those nay sayers "now"!?  >:o))

So really, for such a long time, "pseudoscience" was the "only" 
explanation.  As coiling became more popular and many folks could 
join together with the help of say the TCBA news and the Internet, we 
could finally work the complex details with a LOT(!!) of very hard work.

Now, we pull out our old 80's era "Tesla coil" + "secrets" + 
"explained" (pick the title using these words...) books and laugh at 
their stupidity...  But it sure was not silly back then!!!  It was 
like gospel...  :-(

Many "stretched" the "few" facts to raise a little extra money...  As 
a young gullable lad of the day, I am "still" hunting them down 
:o))  I still have all the receipts too!!!

"Enigma Fantastique" - W. Gordon Allen, Ph.D.  Presents projections, 
philosophies and prophesies of Dr. Nikola Tesla....  UFO's, alien 
intelligences, Stendek encounters  $12.00..........  (Ph.D, and can't 
spell fantastic...  I should have known...)  I think I used it to 
start a camp fire once...

T.E. Bearden, Lt. Col., Ret....  Where is he anyway...  I want my money back!!!

As a famous conservative columnist said recently 'Well, I think 
that's bull---- and I hate that"............

"I forgive" the Corums since they were really 'trying" and did "help" :-)))


But, with a lot of work, we are putting the silly science away now 
and bringing Tesla coiling into almost a main stream science.  Sort 
of sad that we can't claim it's all "magic" anymore ;-)

I was demonstrating my DRSSTC and it's tricks to some old timers of 
the 80's era...   They just stared at it with that stunned 
"deer-in-the-headlights" look....  "Even "I"" was tempted and wished 
I had another DRSSTC controller box hidden with just a pyramid and 
magic crystals inside it to try and convince them that it was 
"simply" tapping Tesla's world energy vortex >:o))))  It would have 
been "just too easy" to do the "box switch" while looking for 
screwdrivers in the confusion....  Sadly, they probably would have 
fallen for it........

But I showed them the "real" insides and explained the parts and 
operation.  They did not really "get it" but they certainly 
understood there was "no magic at all" in there...  Just a bunch of 
plain circuits and somebody "figured it out"...  So "I" did "not" 
continue the pseudoscience tradition, but I "understand" it ;-)))

Tesla coiling today is not shrouded in much "magical mystery" 
stuff...  As I though many years ago, we did "loose something".  But 
I think "we are all better now"!  And our little Tesla coils can 
still whoop the bully down the block with an ignition coil out of his 
dad's Chevy ;-))))

Cheers,

        Terry