MORNING
Here’s the red scooter getting some final touch-ups before a road test. It turns out the valves need adjusting, a major job. This follows the pattern that these Chinese scooters require a repair roughly every 2,000 miles. That’s Miguel topping off the tires to 35 psi. We also replaced the gas filter. American-made lawnmower parts are often superior to original factory parts.
Miguel is a hobbyist himself and has built a Tesla coil. It does not work. Actually, most of them don’t due to mismatched parts. I’ve examined the schematics available on the Internet. I can tell you right off the bat that you cannot get free electricity from the air, at least not in meaningful quantities. Sufficient electrical energy is simply not in the air in the first place.
Let me explain. Electricity that is increasing or decreasing in strength produces a magnetic field. When that field passes a wire, some of the magnetism is changed back into electricity. Alternating current is continually increasing and decreasing from positive 117 Volts, back to zero, and down to negative 117 Volts, repeating this 60 times per second. Thus, a wire held nearby gets slightly electrified, but the important word is "nearby". The field strength decreases very rapidly with distance. Nonetheless, transformers which step-up voltages can accumulate these tiny increments in a capacitor which eventually can discharge in a small but relatively harmless “lightning bolt”.
If you take that wire and wind it tightly, more of the wire is exposed to the magnetic waves per unit area. A Tesla coil is no different than any other wire coil. Even if it is not coiled, it will still pick up very tiny electromagnetic fluctuations (strongest when the length of the wire matches the wavelength) which we all know as “radio waves”.
If you are looking for a source of free energy, the sun is a better bet. The air is full of light waves during the daytime and they can be used to preheat water before flows into your hot water tank, resulting in a savings in electricity. Here is a [rather busy] photo of Miguel’s device, which seems to have all the parts. I work only with 5 volt maximum direct current. Thus, I have no experience with this type of circuitry, nor do I want any. They are dangerous. If you look closely, he is missing a primary coil. This is because the on-line diagrams rarely show it.
AFTERNOON
I’ll say again, Tesla and his work are highly over-rated. Yes, he did the groundwork for alternating current, but it was a concept he could not capitalize on. Other than his coil, which failed, he invented and accomplished very little else. The world is full of such people. Big ideas; little done about it. However, like chess and glassblowing, the concepts of Tesla have an amazing grip on the minds of the lower working classes. They have the cute idea that Tesla has been wrongfully neglected.
The following topic is related to today’s addendum, but separated here as they concern a general principle as opposed to a specific instance. So you know, there is no law in the USA that requires you to give up hard drive passwords, but there are plenty of laws about what happens if you refuse. This contorted manner of thinking is typical of old English law, or Trial by Ordeal as it is better known. Demanding a computer password is akin to the presumption of guilt. How long before standing up for your rights carries a longer prison sentence than the crime one is charged with?
There is one case in England where the authorities found a teen whose hard drive had a 40-plus character password. There was no suspicion of any wrong-doing and even the arresting police say he was of previous good character. But suddenly there is the presence of that damn password. The teen has never confirmed or denied anything, but he was jailed for 16 weeks. No matter what is on that drive, four months in the slammer was clearly the lesser of two evils. That poor kid has been crucified.
The authorities hauled the kid before a jury which was repeatedly told, now careful here, that the teen had refused to give the password to police “who were investigating child sex crimes”. One, I suppose, should be grateful they were not investigating terrorism or tax fraud as well. The teen has never been charged with any sex crime, but after hearing those carefully planted words, the jury convicted him in less than 15 minutes.
For those that do have something to hide, the preferred method is to use a bait drive. This is a layer of innocuous information with a password. This is important because it has become a de facto crime to “forget” your password. My preferred method is to never put anything incriminating in writing in the first place. Mind you, if they are out to get you, the lack of evidence in this day and age barely slows them down. I have nothing to hide, but I insist upon my right to do so should it ever become necessary. Unlike most people, I think ahead.
What I can't figure out is why somebody hasn't invented a system whereby if someone uses a fake password you give them, it will automatically erase your hard drive.
[Author’s note: In case there is any doubt, I’m against any manipulation of the law to further personal agendas. True freedom not only means a person cannot be required to testify against himself, it goes further and prevents him from doing so even if he is willing. Sadly, too many people don’t understand this. Take for instance the classical example of a person crossing the border with a suitcase. The authorities maintain the act of crossing is consent to be searched and a voluntary surrender of privacy. It isn’t. Unless you can explain to me what is "voluntary" about being questioned by a man with a loaded gun.]
ADDENDUM
You know what is really disgusting? People who find the American Constitution keeps getting in their way.
Here’s a video of Barlowe the worm trying his doublespeak on the media. What a douchebag. The issue is NOT child porn, the issue is the Fourth Amendment. It has provisions to prevent bastard-rats like Barlowe from twisting the law for their own purposes. (He claims Internet data is not protected, but does not quote the phrase from the Constitution which causes that exception.)
He can’t win on legal grounds so he plays the emotional card. That guy needs to get rid of his bad hairpiece as badly as he needs an exercise program. Catch all the bad guys you want, but obey the law to do it. Instead Barlowe cites as “precedent” other companies who have succumbed to his threats.
Sure, I can tell you how that is done. Simple, you do the same thing as the police standing in front of your car when you have a right to leave. You turn the issue into a different, more serious crime. You get a court order, a much simpler process, so than when the defendant dares to insist on his rights, he is in contempt. I weep for America.
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