Obama would have banned Edison's light bulb? Rmoney is an idiot.

[Atman]

There was no light bulb at the time. NO ONE HAD ELECTRIC LIGHTS. The original design, still largely in use today, was/is horribly inefficient. But it was life-changing at the time of its introduction. So why would Obama have banned it? Because in 2012, the government is calling for a more efficient technology that uses far less electricity (read: fossil fuels)? So that means the very INVENTION would have banned?

I repeat...Rmoney is an idiot. And his idiot supporters (are you listening, Joe Scum?) eat it up.

[madokie]

1. A stupid idiot at that

How can a man with so much stupid just dripping off of him have so much money is beyond my comprehension

[hobbit709]

3. He got his money the old fashioned way-he inherited it.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Yeah? Well...

RawMoney would have given government subsidies to Edison in order to prop up his egotistical, hare-brained scheme for transmitting electric power on DC lines - a horribly inefficient system that wouldn't have been able to move electricity more than a few miles from the generating station, thereby assuring that electricity would only benefit wealthy customers and never be available to the masses. I stand by this assessment, as I believe it's much more in line with actual events from that era, with RawMoney's penchant for government welfare to corporations and looking out for the 1%.

As an aside...did you know that Edison actually sent a traveling sideshow on the road which electrocuted dogs and other animals with AC to demonstrate the dangers of the Westinghouse/Tesla system? Adverts from the time advised against 'getting Westinghoused' with AC. Edison also provided the design for the first electric chair as part of this campaign to discredit George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla out of greed and boundless ego.

[bongbong]

6. Ho Boy!

Standard misinformation about Edison. Nothing new here. Once you understand electricity and the history of technology better, you'll be less angry about Edison.

One of your "facts" that is wrong is that DC is actually more efficient for transmitting electricity than AC. Now DC is used for long-distance transmission because we have the technology to change DC voltages nearly as easily as AC.

Don't let facts get in the way of your rant. Didja know V=IR?

[Cirque du So-What]

7. Ever hear of a transformer?

Early transmission analysis

Edison's response to the limitations of direct current was to generate power close to where it was consumed (today called distributed generation) and install large conductors to handle the growing demand for electricity, but this solution proved to be costly (especially for rural areas which could not afford to build a local station[13] or to pay for massive amounts of very thick copper wire), impractical (including, but not limited to, inefficient voltage conversion) and unmanageable. Edison and his company, though, would have profited extensively from the construction of the multitude of power plants required to make electricity available in many areas.

Direct current could not easily be converted to higher or lower voltages. This meant that separate electrical lines had to be installed to supply power to appliances that used different voltages, for example, lighting and electric motors. This required more wires to lay and maintain, wasting money and introducing unnecessary hazards. A number of deaths in the Great Blizzard of 1888 were attributed to collapsing overhead power lines in New York City.[14][15]

Alternating current could be transmitted over long distances at high voltages, using lower current, and thus lower energy loss and greater transmission efficiency, and then conveniently stepped down to low voltages for use in homes and factories. When Tesla introduced a system for alternating current generators, transformers, motors, wires and lights in November and December 1887, it became clear that AC was the future of electric power distribution, although DC distribution was used in downtown metropolitan areas for decades thereafter.

Low-frequency (50–60 Hz) alternating currents can be more dangerous than similar levels of DC since the alternating fluctuations can cause the heart to lose coordination, inducing ventricular fibrillation, a deadly heart rhythm that must be corrected immediately.[16] However, any practical distribution system will use voltage levels quite sufficient for a dangerous amount of current to flow, whether it uses alternating or direct current. As precautions against electrocution are similar for both AC and DC, the technical and economic advantages of AC power transmission outweighed this theoretical risk, and it was eventually adopted as the standard worldwide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Currents#Early_transmission_analysis

Durr

[bongbong]

9. Wiki?

I'm glad you're learning from wiki, although I prefer my degrees in engineering & my research in the back rooms of technological museums (the ones the public doesn't get to enter).

[Cirque du So-What]

10. You think those who live for keeping Wikipedia accurate would stand for false information?

Nice appeal to snobbery, BTW. If you've got any top-secret info you'd like to share (assuming, of course, that you wouldn't get snuffed for revealing it, that is), have at it.

[bongbong]

11. asdf

> Nice appeal to snobbery,

Not an appeal to snobbery. You must be Santorum! Those uppity elitists and their "edumacations"! Worthless! We should let people who read wiki design power systems & do brain surgery! Can't be too hard, can it?

> If you've got any top-secret info you'd like to share

I'm writing a wiki article right now ... seriously, if you want to learn more about this subject, I recommend "Empires Of Light" by Jonnes for a good layman's intro to the subject. You don't even need to know that V does NOT equal IR - in AC circuits.

[Cirque du So-What]

14. asdf

asdf

the first 4 letters in the home row. Commonly used by internet newbs to either spam a board, create topics, or "remind" another user that they are there and existant, demanding attention.

or...

asdf

The best 4 letters on a keyboard, they just happened to be in line. People often use it...just about anywhere. This is because the letters are so powerful, they can make up for complete essays, paragraphs, or just sentences.

even better...

asdf

1) Asdf can be used with qwertyuiop and ghjkl.
2) Asdf is what you say when you are angry.
3) Asdf is what you say when you have nothing to say.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=asdf

If you'd bothered to look, the Wikipedia article cited the following as a source:

Donald G. Fink and H. Wayne Beaty, Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers, Eleventh Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978, ISBN 0-07-020974-X, chapter 14, page 14-3 "Overhead power transmission"

You still haven't bothered to 'debunk' any of my first post, I'd like to point out. If all you're going to do is sling more shit and vomit more insults instead of addressing that with which you disagree - as you did from the get-go - then I'm done with ya.

[bongbong]

15. Have a nice day

I referred you to a source (Jonnes) on the subject of the development of electrical transmission. If you want to pursue it, great If not, have a nice day.

BTW, Fink & Beatty is out of date. High-voltage DC transmission was rarely used in those days.

I use asdf a lot when there doesn't seem to be an appropriate subject to use.

As far as "debunking", I could spend 24x7 365 days a year correcting misinformation on Edison & Tesla and I still wouldn't make a dent. I wrote a bit here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002443111

[bongbong]

16. asdf

> You're all over the forum defending Edison but your facts are very selective.

I've posted replies in just two threads. I gave a balanced post in the other thread about both AC & DC. If you want to learn more, read "Empires Of Light" by Jonnes.


> Edison had no means to transform low voltage direct current into very-high-voltage direct current.

Actually he did, but it wasn't too efficient, and was costly. He made a bad business decision to stick with DC.

[bongbong]

18. A joke?

Why do you think it is a joke? What are the relative efficiencies, costs, feasibility, and other factors of the other methods available to him? What WERE the other methods available to him? How much did wiring cost back then? These and many other variables figure into any judgments you want to make about his work.

[surrealAmerican]

4. He's not stupid enough to actually believe that.

He just thinks the people he's trying to appeal to will believe it. He's probably right about that too.

[onenote]

5. Romney would have fought against the switchover from whale oil to electricity.

[Johonny]

19. +1

[Blue_Tires]

8. It still fits into his overall campaign theme:

Edison: American
Obama: non-American

[erpowers]

12. Efficiency Good Only Part Of the Time

What gets me is how Republicans support efficiency only when efficiency supports them. If a government program were as inefficient as the incandescent lightbulb Republicans would be calling for the end of the program. However, the fact the the incandescent lightbulb is inefficient is not a good enough reason to get rid of it.