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Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED

Original poster: "claudio masetto" <claudmas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi Paul
Australian TV is just as bad. All we get is bad American Sit Comms and cop shows. The only thing I find enjoyable is Mythbusters.
As for talking about Electronics or Tesla Coils at work, forget it. All they seem to want to talk about is sport.
The last time I went in to work on a Saturday to wind a coil I was told (jokingly I think) by the bosse's wife to get a life.

Claude.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 12:06 PM
Subject: Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED


Original poster: "Paul B. Brodie" <pbbrodie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

At first, I was surprised at the news that this show was on TV. I was really looking forward to seeing something slightly interesting on television. Then I read several of the posts on the list and I was brought rudely back to earth. It's a sad fact that there is absolutely nothing surprising about the misconceptions and bad "science" contained in this television show. What does surprise me is that there are any shows about real science on American TV of any kind. Unfortunately, for the past couple of decades, there has been a strong anti-science/anti-intellectual movement in the US. Even before I retired in 1998, people at work seldom if ever discussed anything remotely like science. If I ever had the audacity to attempt talking about fooling around with my electronics hobby or, heaven forbid, Tesla Coils people would act as if I was crazy to have any kind of interest in science or any of these sorts of things. Any discussions about things scientific were simply taboo. The only discussions allowed in "polite society" were about sports, love life, health, music, and entertainment. It has only gotten worse since then, according to my wife. My wife says that it has gotten so bad that she is openly criticized at work for using "all of those big words!" My teenage sons say it is just as bad at school! Oh well.
Paul
Think Positive

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 12:24 PM
Subject: Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED

> Original poster: "Mark Broker"
<<mailto:mbroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>mbroker@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> On Fri, 03 Jun 2005 01:54:23 -0600, Tesla list
<<mailto:tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>tesla@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>>Original poster: "keith" >><<mailto:keith.cc@xxxxxxxxxxx>keith.cc@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>>I saw part one tonight and wasn't terribly impressed with it - I'm still
>>an hv beginner but even I picked up on multiple semantic/factual errors
>>- saying voltage can 'flow', using 'electricity' in place of 'current',
>>and citing the 30kv/cm breakdown electric field value for point
>>electrode discharges, which I'm pretty sure you can't do. I know it's
>>meant for lay audiences, but errors like those irritate me when I've
>>expended so much effort trying to learn electricity the 'right' way and
>>get past such common misconceptions. The woman they had who was
>>allegedly working on her phd in electrical engineering also did not seem
>>to know much more about electricity than the stunt man. There were,
>>however, some good shots of a fairly large coil operating, an impressive
>>demonstration of electrical-storm independent atmospheric electric
>>charge, and some glimpses of a large pulse discharge capacitor
>>bank/charging apparatus. Just my (unsolicited) opinion.
>>
>>Keith C
>
> We were ranting about this last night already on our forums.... :p
>
> I was forced to turn it off partway through: I found the rhetoric and
> dialog to be vastly more annoying than the egregious scientific errors. > My
> wife, in the room down the hall, was wondering at one point why I was
> screaming technobabble at the TV! A welded joint does not need to
> withstand "high voltage," it needs to withstand "high current;" the net
> electric field inside a conductor is ZERO; voltage does not flow; > etc....
>
> I would be surprised if either the woman was a degreed engineer of ANY
> flavor, let alone a masters-level electrical engineer, or the guy with
> glasses was a neurosurgeon (or perhaps just scientist/researcher). If
> indeed they weren't, certainly Discovery could have gotten more > attractive
> acting talent, like on MythBusters. :o)
>
> I will probably send them a polite-o-gram tonight pontificating upon > their
> egregious errors and kindly suggesting they consult "experts," like us
> (many of us wouldn't even charge a consultation fee!), before they do > their
> next science side-show.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Mark Broker
> The Geek Group
>
>
>
>