Plasma globes are made of pure, concentrated awesome. Appropriately enough, they were also invented by real life mad scientist Nikola Tesla. He seemed to specialize in making things with limited practical applications, but, man, do they look cool!
Also a little shout out to the Headwaters Science Center in Bemidji. I'd go back to Bemidji just to visit that place again. (Well, that and the the mini-golf course with the 3-foot metal sculpture of a mosquito.)
12 comments:
IIRC, Nikola Tesla may have been far more famous in the world of electric power than Thomas Edison if he had not lacked Edison's financial backers and if he had possessed Edison's (ofttimes less than benign) marketing skills. To this day some people argue that Tesla was a better electrical engineer and that his approach to electrical engineering was more practical (he essentially invented the idea of microwave transmission almost a half a century before it became commercially available).
@Dan: Possible. Though there's also no denying that the man was stark raving bonkers.
True, that.
@Brigid: "Bonkers" Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's a naughty word, no one is bonkers...I believe the PC term for it "eccentric". Or "idiosyncratic" if you're especially eggheaded. XP
@Journo: As my dad would say about himself, he didn't have nearly enough money to be called "eccentric." And I'm pretty sure catching radio messages from Mars goes past "idiosyncratic." ;P
:D
@Brigid: Ugh, it's always about the money XP
Well, OK, maybe that is off the wall. I'm learning more about things the more I come here!
You gotta admit, do you know many normal, sane people who are totally kick-butt?
@Journo: I don't know many normal, sane people, period. Sanity does not run in my family.
@Brigid: Does it run in anyone's family, truly? I know it doesn't in mine!
@Journo: Good question. I suspect that really boring families die out pretty quick.
@Brigid: I heard about the relationship between Edison and Tesla and I remembered your previous comment.
He probably could have afforded the title "eccentric", if Edison hadn't screwed him out of 50,000$ (which would be about a million in today's terms).
@Journo: Quite likely. What's amazing is how easy-going Tesla was about the whole thing.
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