1) Tesla, AC/DC: First of all, in my sort of defense of Edison, I hope I didn't go so far as to denigrate the contributions of Tesla. He was indeed a genius, sadly one who appeared at a bad time for his own well being. I have a feeling that if he had been born ten years earlier and had been able to proffer his ideas before others had produced alternate, but inferior ideas, he might have died both rich and famous in his time. I think it's true that high voltage DC transmits easier, and with less loss than AC. There are a bunch of competing forces that appear in the transmission of electromagnetic energy (including light, radio, electricity) and two of the most importance are capacitance and inductance. Capacitance is the tendency to hold back some of the energy and store it in the transmission line. In DC, this energy is held back once and has a small effect of producing a bit of a loss. In AC, as the frequency of the switching back and forth increases, this energy is released with each switchback and it sort of lags behind, but it does get transmitted. At higher frequencies, it seems to not appear at all as a factor. Inductance is the magnetic property of electromagnetic transmission. It seems to produce some magnetism that is emitted ahead of the electricity in the line. Again, in a DC circuit, it is just a continuous small amount that is emitted constantly until the power is turned off. In AC, every time the power switches from positive to negative, the magnetism switches polarity. This has the effect of holding down the power that is transmitted through the line. The total effect of these forces on AC circuits are controllable and are much of what makes radio, radar, TV, and all the other electronics by which we live today, work. (I just looked out the window and there's some white stuff, looks like volcanic ash, dropping out of the sky.) In electrical transmission lines, these same forces help to make AC less effective as a mechanism. A bunch of years ago, when I still lived in El Lay, I did a whole lot of bicycle riding, and one day I chanced to take the Metrorail commuter railroad, along with my bike, to the end of the line in Santa Clarita, northwest of El Lay and approaching Tejon Pass. I figured it would be a downhill ride all the way. After about the first mile uphill, it was, but somewhere up there, while I was still in the mountains, I passed the point where electricity was being shipped down from somewhere east (I had always assumed it was Hoover Dam, but I since found that power is shipped to the El Lay area for a bunch of different communities from a bunch of different sources). Anyhow, as I passed under the lines while on my bike, I experienced a continuous snapping in my head, under my helmet, that had to be coming from AC power going from positive to negative to positive and back again. I don't know how much actual power was being emitted from the lines rather than continuing down them, but I know that I sure felt it! It makes me wonder, just how much power is lost that way overall over the length of a line that is several hundred miles long if a person passing underneath at any point along that length can feel the some of the power that is lost at that point, and it's strong enough to bring about an internal jolting in one's body. 2) Scientists as Witches: I wish I could say that what happened in Italy could never happen here, but after hearing the statements of some politicians who populate congressional science and energy committees, I'm afraid we can see the same kind of reasoning applied right here in the good ol' US of A. 3) Members' Losses: I was out of town for a couple of weeks, returning early last Friday. Since then I've become aware of the passing of the fathers of two of the members of this list, and to say the least, I am saddened by these losses, and I offer Dave and Tyler my deepest sympathy. I can't figure out whether I'm more or less fortunate in having lost my parents many years ago, so the pain has become much more diffuse in recent years. Yet it is still there. I just wish life weren't so complicated that we almost all have to endure these things at one time or another. It is always sad, difficult, and deeply painful. -- Thanx, *Ray *