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Re: Arcs off the fingers and getting killed in the process...
As one of said stunt 'pro's...
The bottom line is that in this day and age, ANYONE with enough
curiosity and motivation will go and build the 'monster coil'. With the
Internet and all, there isn't all that much we can do about it, and as
Jeff P. mentioned, all it's going to take is one or two novices who
don't have a clue to open a whole pandora's box of legal problems --
wanna see Tesla coils outlawed???
The key thing here (and pardon me if I get up on my soapbox...) is
RESPONSIBILITY. However, in this litigatious age we live in, some
hot-shot lawyer is going to argue that the poor person should never have
been allowed access to the information, ie; somehow it's OUR problem to
keep the rest of the population away from information that is obviously
so harmful. In other words, not only will Tesla coils and the
information about them be banned, but us Tesla coil afficianados will
likewise face possible lawsuits for even presenting this information.
Secretive? Hell yes. At least that way it can't be shown that I (or
anyone else who does not reveal the 'tricks') could have directly
contributed to a person's injury or demise.
Incidentally, the ordinary common kitchen toaster is a product liability
nightmare. Main reason that manufacturers haven't been sued over it is
that the darn thing is in such common use that it would be ridiculous.
Take for example a stunt in a motion picture. I am sure that some idiot
felt that if it could be done on the silver screen, he or she could do
it at home. I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of the movie
companies have faced a lawsuit over it. But, they DIDN'T show how the
stunt was done, so the responsibility of the action falls directly on
the poor ignorant person.
Insurance companies refer to these matters as 'attractive nuisances', by
the way -- if you have an empty swimming pool and some kid goes out of
his or her way to scale your fence or pick the lock on the gate to go
skateboarding in it, if they get hurt it's still YOUR fault. Your empty
pool despite being behind a fence and a locked gate is considered an
'attractive nuisance'.
Isn't being held accountable for someone else's irresponsibility fun???
- Brent Turner aka 'The Lightning Guy'
Tesla List wrote:
>
> Original Poster: Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>
>
> Hi All,
>
> With the recent TV show about Dean Ortner shooting sparks off his fingers
> and the other stunts pros like Brent turner and Robert Krampf perform,
> there is the question of how we should handle this whole matter...
>