Re: Video NOW: Discovery Channel, Cable ZAPPED

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Bob (R.A.) Jones" <a1accounting@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Hi,
> 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.

I don't know if its a taboo. But its definatly a fringe (less than 1% of the
average are interested) subject and I belive it has become more so over the
last fifty years. Probably due to so many competing subjects and idols. I
belong to a social net group and occasionally post scientific news or
comments such as eclipses or some new discovery.
It has approximately 800 members but usually there is no response to such a
post. If I post an open social question it can trigger hundreds of
responses. That is the same response from any average social group. You can
almost see
the glazed look appear in their eyes LOL. Just before they nod fawning
interest (if I am lucky) then someone changes the subject. Is this so
surprising when more than fifty percent of the population believe in angels?
It would be nice if it was different but its not.
We coilers are very rare. In the USA there may be more murders than coilers
LOL


>  >
>  > 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....

There are degrees of truth.
For example the net electric field is only zero in side a perfect conductor
and only if a few other conditions are true.
But your right the usual statement is "net electric field inside a conductor
is zero". The boiled down version.
I wonder how many students that confused over the years.

The same with the usual vaguely scientific programs on TV. At their level
voltage, current, electricit,y etc are the same thing.
I am not defending their lack of rigor only giving an explanation for it.
Personally I think they could do much better. Now what do I mean by
"better". ?

Robert (R. A.) Jones
A1 Accounting, Inc., Fl
407 649 6400