Of Tesla, his birthday and holograms

1 comment July 10th, 2009

One of the fascinating things about social media is that it puts the strangest folks in the same “room.” Take the exchange below between me (old chick born to the television generation) and Thom Kuss (hip young dude who could probably be my grandson if we stretched the point a bit).

We have a handful of things in common: We work in the News Tower and we are captivated by social media (from e-mail to Twitter.) He’s captivated because it’s his life; I’m captivated because it allows me to do cool things for work and fun.

So, this morning he e-mails me to ask if we can post something on Nikola Tesla’s birthday. I have no idea exactly why we would want to and I cast about for a way to say “are you nuts” nicely. Enjoy the string below; read from the bottom to the top. And, learn something about Tesla.

Gotta love social media. I can’t wait until we can do holograms and virtual reality. And, as Thom would remind me, we’ll do it because of Tesla.

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Kuss writes or copies and pastes: OK …  This reads like a history book but what can you do?
Nikola Tesla, a Serbian born immigrant, came to the states in 1884. Known best as an inventor and a mechanical/electrical engineer. He is often considered the father of commercial electricity as well as a magician and topic of lore. Often shadowed by Edison, Tesla’s alternating current or AC current became an usher to the second industrial revolution and with all of Edison’s attempts of discounting Tesla’s AC it was ultimately found to be the better source of electricity. By far one of the most interesting known inventions is the Tesla Coil or lightning generator (YouTube it!) that could send signals through the air without wires. This led him to conceptualize the rise of TV and even the internet by using said technology and transmitting data and images wirelessly. For this and many other “crackpot” theories he was ultimately deemed a mad scientist he died alone and impoverished at the age of 86.
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On 7/10/09 11:50 AM, “Cunningham, Linda Grist” wrote:

That may be a tad nerdy….. Although I DO know who he was (sorta). But, I’ll make you a deal. You send me the appropriate words and I’ll do a fun little blog post about you, me and Tesla!
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From: Kuss, Thom
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 11:45 AM
To: Cunningham, Linda Grist
Subject: Just a thought

Ok, maybe it’s a nerd thought but can we post something about Nikola Tesla’s birthday?

Every family’s got its problems

2 comments July 10th, 2009

Just when you start to believe yours is the only screwed up family on the planet along comes a story designed to make you want to run home and hug your kids. The ongoing saga that is the Sarah Palin clan just proves the point.

Out just now is a press conference interview with 19-year-old Levi Johnston, the former groom-never-to-be of Bristol (you know the boy; the one who looked like there was a shotgun in his back that was sporting a suit he’d never worn before during last fall’s presidential campaign) and father of Sarah’s grandchild.

Flashing red sign that dysfunctional family is about to surface: A 19-year old — with his lawyer — is having a press conference to discuss his speculations on his never-to-be mother-in-law’s decision to resign as Alaska’s governor.

Dysfunctional sign: A Palin family spokesperson has this to say: “It is interesting to learn Levi is working on a piece of fiction while honing his acting skills.” Those are cat-fighting words back where I come from.

Dysfunctional sign: Levi says Sarah’s just after the money. (Probably why he has a lawyer. To make sure he gets some of it.)

Dysfunctional sign: Teenage Bristol’s doing unpleasant interviews whenever she gets let out of the house.  But that’s another story.

Oh, anyway.  Go home and hug your kids. At least they’re not calling press conferences to talk about you.