Tesla

[Relaxo]

Discuss...

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/tesla

[Arduin]

Do more research then, get back to me.

[Sir Ironside]

Walt Disney, Heny Ford and Thomas Edison were all Nazi sympathizers.

Though Tesla did keep much of his research in his head, Tesla did keep extensive notes. Unfortunately the place he stayed burned to the ground, taking all of Tesla's work with it. (After Tesla had died.) Priceless research gone in a hour.

Tesla wasn't big on patents, making it easy to poach his ideas. Imagine if he had retained his patent rights to EC. Even at a 1% royalty Tesla and Tesla's descendants would be billionaires, every month, in today's market.

Many people/scientists believe the Doomsday device, could have been a real thing. He never completed it do to not finding longevity or immortality ( He wasn't looking for it, but probably could have found it if he put his mind to it. ). Coupled with the fire above, man will never know.

A small Tesla device (Harmonic frequency) was used by Myth Busters on a bridge. It scared them so much that they disabled it when the whole bridge started vibrating from this little machine.

His paranoia and shyness stole humanity of, possibly, the greatest mind mankind had ever known.

Tesla' supposed last words.

"Let the future tell the truth, and Evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments. The present is theirs. The future, for which I have really worked, is mine"

Tesla is one of my favourite historical figures, if not #1. ( I named one my cats after him. ) I figured I had to counter-act, however small, a lousy 90's rock band that called themselves Tesla.

[Indigo Rose]

I'm a big Tesla fan myself, and created a poster about him for my typography class this past semester. He also almost managed to get some screen time in during my web design class, as well. I absolutely LOVE all of the commentary about Edison sprinkled throughout the link! Bravo!

[Relaxo]

Do more research then, get back to me.

I'm not the oatmeal, and I don't claim it's fair to Edison, but I learned about 10 things about Tesla I didn't know (shame on me).


This harmonic frequency thing, is that the earthquake device the cartoon mentions? It's like he really was a real honest to goodness mad scientist. This totally makes his fictional part in The Prestige 50% more believable.

This thing that can drink electricity from the ionosphere... can anyone make one now?

[DMMike]

It's like he really was a real honest to goodness mad scientist. This totally makes his fictional part in The Prestige 50% more believable.

Yup, he became the iconic figure for the "Mad Scientist" in the late 1890s right through to the 1950s. Wild eyed, vague East European accent, and creating astonishing things; that's Tessla. As for Edison... He was notorious for hiring people who worked for other companies to quit, join him, then he'd fund that person's court case claiming any new product was a patent infringement for that former employee. Even if he didn't win, it kept the patent in abeyance.

Ah, the All American Thomas Edison. Not that he was stupid, but hardly the inventor his reputation claimed. More like a excellent marketing guru...the Bill Gates of the 19th century.

DMMike

[Relaxo]

It's brilliant in its way.

[Sir Ironside]

This harmonic frequency thing, is that the earthquake device the cartoon mentions? It's like he really was a real honest to goodness mad scientist. This totally makes his fictional part in The Prestige 50% more believable.

Yeah kind'a. You gotta remember that Tesla's reputation has been elevated as he is becoming more well known. I mean who doesn't like a mad scientist story? And if that mad scientist was real, double cool! So, unfortunately, through the lack of real hard, being-able-to-out-in-your-hands-and-read, type evidence, it is easy to send Tesla into this mystical realm of some kind of super-genius that had he lived long enough we'd all would be wearing jet packs by the 1970's. Some of these "stories" didn't exist 20 years ago, and they are just expanding, in scope as time marches on. People like to dream of, "What if." and Tesla is a good foil for that.

Most "experts" feel that Tesla suffered from some kind of bi-polar disorder that helps explain his odd ways.

The harmonic frequency was basically a theory that if you could tap into the frequency, of pretty much any solid structure, and get your machine to match it, then you, in essence, enhance the natural frequency and through the machine you can slowly speed it up till it tears itself apart. (Hey maybe all those "new age" charlatans are on to something. )

There is no known experiment done for this (except by the very loose "science" by; The Mythbusters), let alone possibly leveling an entire block.

It's brilliant in its way.

And, "by its way", you mean exploiting the hard work of others, then yeah I guess. I'd guess people who run ponsey scheme's are equally brilliant. Just a different class of leech.

[Relaxo]

Yup, he became the iconic figure for the "Mad Scientist" in the late 1890s right through to the 1950s. Wild eyed, vague East European accent, and creating astonishing things; that's Tessla.

oh, DUH RELAXO!

[moriarty777]

Tesla is all kinds of awesome.

In a Supers game I played, I created a character called 'Doc Tesla' -- basically a superhero that used a suit to conduct and throw about lightning. He wasn't evil... and while he was on the side of 'good' ... he was more interested in the science of everything. He was essentially a 'mad scientist' super hero. The 'mad' part was also due to the fact he thought he was also having a constant dialogue with the spirit of Nikola Tesla. The GM had great fun with this... he effectively played 'the voice of Tesla' and I would end up roleplaying so many dialogues with him.

He was awesome! Sorry for the stray tangent but mention of Tesla will always remind me of that character.



M

[Ancalagon]

That's a very cool supers game, moriarty777!

[ArgoForg]

Tesla is beyond simply awesome. Their "Five Man Acoustic Jam" album set the standard that almost all acoustic albums since wished they could follow.

[TheMetal1]

Despite it being band in the US and 84 other countries, I actually think Gwar's attempt at an all acoustic album is probably the best, even with the violent head explosions the sonic "Telsa" vibrations caused while being played in 8-track format.