Who's that old dude sitting on the pedestal, and apparently made of stone? It's James Watt! Happy Birthday, James Watt! Today is my birthday too – but James Watt (19 January 1736 – 25 August 1819) did a lot more cool stuff than I've done, that's for sure! What a month for birthdays in lighting history! [...]
Read More electricity, energy conversion, happy birthday, James Watt, Newcomen, planet and sun gear, power, SI units, steam, steam engine, W, WattWhat the – who's that guy? Is that Benjamin Franklin? Hey, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Benjamin Franklin! Benny Franklin (January 17, 1706 to April 17, 1790) was technically born yesterday, but it was Sunday – so not as many people would have been able to say "WHASSUP BIRTHDAY BOY" had I posted this yesterday. Good ol' Benny [...]
Read More Benjamin Franklin, candles, Daylight Savings Time, Declaration of Independence, electricity, founding father, lightningDo you know who Robert Buelteman is? A while ago I read an article in Wired about Robert (the article is where I got the images), and I was so intrigued by his art and process that I had to contact him myself and tell him how great I found his work. Robert is an [...]
Read More aura, beautiful, electricity, Kirlian photography, Light Art, Robert BueltemanI am 31 – but I love rocking chairs. That's not to insinuate that only old people rock, don't get me wrong. When I was a kid, my parents had one of those old, heavy, thick rocking chairs that you could literally rock yourself to sleep in, and the slight reclining shape of the chair [...]
Read More chair, dynamic, electricity, furniture, kinetic, Murakami Rocking Chair, OLEDGeorge Westinghouse's birthday was actually yesterday – so like a best friend that had to work on the birthday of another best friend, I send a HAPPY BIRTHDAY wish to George Westinghouse, the father of alternating current and a pioneer of electrical systems as we know most of them in the United States! Hey George [...]
Read More alternating current, electric chair, electrical distribution, electricity, George Westinghouse, happy birthdayArtist and photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto has a series of really beautiful photographs of electricity. The only thing that's different in these photographs, however, is how Hiroshi took the photos. By taking a high voltage source and applying it directly to the film, Hiroshi made these absolutely amazing works. One thing I like almost more than [...]
Read More art, electricity, high voltage, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Light Art, photographyIf you work with anything that requires electricity, you might want to know who Michael Faraday was – as today is his birthday! Who's that? Is that Michael Faraday? Hey, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Michael Faraday! (September 29, 1791 to August 25, 1867) Michael Faraday was one of the fathers of our thinking on electricity and electrical [...]
Read More electricity, electromagnetism, farad, Faraday, faraday cage, Faraday's Law of Induction, happy birthday, Michael FaradayChris Jordan, an artist from Seattle who produces a lot of commentary work on consumerism, has produced a series of work called Running the Numbers. In this work is a painting called Light Bulbs, which makes commentary on the 320,000 kilowatt-hours wasted by the United States every minute through things most of us probably don't [...]
Read More artist, Chris Jordan, commentary, consumerism, electricity, kilowatt, kilowatt hour, light bulbs, wasteFor the life of me, I cannot figure out where I found thislink, but I just came across a video from a UK public service announcement on children playing around electrical service substations. Talk about dramatic, and freaky! But seriously kids, stay out of these places, you'll die. Check out the video:
Read More 1979, children, danger, electricity, PSA, public service announcement, substation, televisionJust out of curiosity, have you been looking at your kilowatt-hour prices from the electric company you pay for electricity? If you have, has it gone up, gone down, or stayed relatively stable? Consumers across the country on average have experienced a 5% increase in kilowatt-hour costs from last year. Craig DiLouie posted a quick [...]
Read More EIA, electric bill, electricity, Energy Information Administration, kilowatt hour, kWh, megawatt hour