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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 22nd, 2023

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  • Tesla’s design [for Wardenclyffe] used a concept of a charged conductive upper layer in the atmosphere, a theory dating back to an 1872 idea for a proposed wireless power system by Mahlon Loomis. Tesla not only believed that he could use this layer as his return path in his electrical conduction system, but that the power flowing through it would make it glow, providing night time lighting for cities and shipping lanes.

    It’s a very Victorian / Steampunk idea that is also kind of horrifying. It’s working off theories of what electricity “is” that we now know aren’t accurate, but if you try to scale them to actually working every building and tree and person is now a lightning rod.


  • Topsy was also electrocuted at the request of the ASPCA because otherwise she was going to be hanged and it was seen as more humane, which always seems to get left out.

    To clarify, Edison wasn’t trying to ‘disprove’ Tesla, the War of the Currents was Edison vs Westinghouse. Tesla didn’t invent AC, he would’ve learned about that in engineering school, he invented the 3 phase motor, which made AC significantly more practical. Tesla had an argument with one of Edison’s managers over pay, not with Edison. Tesla and Edison wrote each other letters later on and generally spoke positively of each other in public.

    Tesla’s an interesting guy but unfortunately went off the deep end pretty steeply. His ‘death ray’ was a ‘blueprint’ he sold to his landlord instead of paying rent and is basically gibberish. Wardenclyffe tower was doomed by not understanding wireless transmission and is basically a Bond villain device. Turning the Ionosphere and Mantel in to halves of a capacitor would both take more energy than humans have ever generated and be really really really bad for anything tall and conductive, which would be basically everything with the energies involved.










  • YMMV but personally it makes everything 1-2 wipes to ‘verify’/dry. Got one in 2020 to lessen TP usage, which it does really well. I think you’re underestimating how strong the stream is (which is variable/controllable) and overestimating how ‘stuck on’ any residue is. Works kinda like a pressure washer where you can’t move/angle the washer (on the affordable ones) so you move the thing being washed for full ‘coverage’.

    Regardless, if I got muck on my hands would rather rinse them in water than just wipe them off with a paper towel.


  • turmacar@lemmy.worldtoMildly Infuriating@lemmy.worldwe are devolving
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    1 year ago

    Most free trial subscriptions let you cancel but keep the subscription active through the trial period, Apple included. I normally cancel immediately so if I forget about the thing because I stopped using it my card doesn’t get charged. All these free trials require a card on file so they can just automatically start the subscription.

    Apple doing this makes it more likely people will forget to cancel if they don’t care for the product and automatically start the subscription. At which point it is far harder to cancel/get your money back.